Atlas
by Scarpaw
Summary: He was their Atlas, holding up the world for them. Yet, when you don't offer help, even Atlas will bring the world crashing down to pieces. Character Death, slight OOCness


It's been a while... Like, a month while... And I'm still skivving off on work that I should be doing... *sigh* Oh well...

This is a piece of work that I wrote months ago and I am just posting it now. (This is actually the first FMA piece I wrote)

**Warning(s)?: Character Death [non-graphic], OOCness [maybe? Roy is a little hard for me to characterize..]**

I hope you guys enjoy!

**Disclaimer: If I claimed ownership of Fullmetal Alchemist, I would go to jail. As such, I'm perfectly happy with keeping my spoons in working order, so I don't presently own it. In the future? Nah, more like my dreams...**

_**Atlas**_

_He was our Atlas. He held up the world for us, bearing the entire weight on his shoulders, never seeking help, never taking help when it was offered. Think about it- the weight of the world, and we never pushed to help him even a little._

It was raining. In a way, it seemed like a sort of poetic justice. The Heavens, crying for a boy who didn't believe in God, but who had been a Hero of the People. A boy who left long before his time.

Roy tipped his head back, staring up at the cloudy sky, not flinching as the rain spattered across his face before he turned his attention back to the stone he was standing in front of. The service had long since ended, and he was all alone.

To think that a brat like him would die so easily, die after he had gone through so much. Die, before he could actually live life a little. To think, that he, Roy Mustang, was crying over the fact that he was dead.

He would've been furious.

_**Lieutenant Colonel Edward Elric**_

_**Hero of the People**_

_**December 7**__**th**__** 1898 - January 18**__**th**__** 1916**_

Fullmetal was an idiot- he had been an idiot. He had believed that he had to handle everything by himself and that he didn't need help to do it. That he was as invincible as Al had been when his soul had been attached to armor.

Ed had acted like he was Atlas; the person from mythology who was said to hold the world up on his shoulders. Only Atlas didn't die holding the world up like Ed did.

"Damnit Fullmetal, why didn't you talk to any of us?" Roy growled out, his hand clenched in a fist.

Apparently Ed had been being harassed- not the short jokes type of harassment that Mustang and the rest of the team dealt him, but the stalker type harassment. He had refused to talk to anybody about it- refused to let anybody know. It wasn't until Alphonse had received a phone call meant for Edward that the whole situation had been brought to light. Even then Ed talked very minimally on the subject, saying that he 'had it handled' and that it was fine and he didn't need any help. And Roy, being the idiot he was, had let it slide, believing what his youngest subordinate said, that he would be fine and it would all blow over.

He had been wrong though. It hadn't blown over. If anything, after Ed talked to him, it started getting worse. Ed started jumping at little things; a knock on the door, the phone ringing. Yet, he still waved it off, acting like he was fine, but everybody knew that Ed hadn't been as '_fine_' as he claimed.

But still, Roy never actually did anything until Al had come to him in a panic, close to hysterical. Ed was missing; according to al, Ed had gone out to the library at the last minute before it closed the night before, and he still hadn't returned, even though it was already one in the afternoon the next day.

It wasn't normal for Ed to go off the chart like that, especially without telling his brother first. And, with how the young alchemist had been acting lately, the first thing that popped to everybody's head was the worst case scenario. As such, a search party had been arranged to find the missing alchemist, immediately.

And, unfortunately, they had been too late in finding him.

He had been jumped while passing through the warehouse district, and by the time he had been found by the search team, he had lost a lot of blood. By the time the ambulance had arrived it was too late. Ed was gone. The flame that had once burned behind those golden eyes of his was gone, put out.

The rain kept pouring down from the sky.

Roy had to admit, when he had first seen Ed's dead body, lying in the morgue, the first thought that had run through his head were the theories of human transmutation. And, while Roy knew that he would never be able to go through with it, there was still the fact that it had run through his head.

Because, in a twisted sort of way, Fullmetal was- had been -their Atlas, holding up the world for them. And without that Atlas, their world would start to fall apart until they managed to catch it themselves.

"Stupid Fullmetal," Roy shook his head. "You never thought before you acted, right up to the end."

"Sir?" Hawkeye came up from behind, holding an umbrella. "We should head back to HQ…" Roy nodded, eyes looking down on Fullmetal's tombstone. Then, a thought dawned on him, and Roy couldn't help but laugh.

"Sir, is there something wrong?" Hawkeye asked, only a bit unnerved by the way her superior officer started laughing out of nowhere.

"No," Roy said, laughs abating. "I just realized that Fullmetal is shorter than ever now."

"Sir…" Hawkeye wasn't sure whether or not to reprimand Colonel in his bad taste in jokes. But part of Hawkeye was happy to see that Roy had finally started to move on after Fullmetal's death… Maybe he finally would get to work on the paperwork he had been putting off since the younger died….

"Yes, Hawkeye?" Roy answered; eyebrow cocking and the previous grin sliding off his face. Hawkeye shook her head, reprimand dying. Instead she merely said,

"Sir, we need to get back to HQ." She repeated her previous statement.

"Alright." Roy conceded. "But, we should check in on Alphonse first."

"No."

"But Hawkeye~!"

"I said no, Sir."

"But~!" _Click._ "Eh- Point taken Lieutenant. You may, ahem, put your firearm away."

Their Atlas may have left, but they were already starting to put their world back together.

"Get moving, sir."

"Alright, alright Hawkeye!" Added, under his breath, "_So mean…_"

"What was that, sir?"

"N-Nothing Hawkeye!"

"That's what I thought sir."

No matter how many pieces they had it in to start.

_**~Owari~**_

So, how was it? I love Ed, but sometimes a change of rote is fun too. And breaks... Like the [extended] break I'm taking from a final project that's due Tuesday...Gack...

Please read, review, and harass me about updates... wait, what?

Ah, who cares, I have summer vacay coming up.

Tell me what you think! ~^_^~

~~Paw-Chan Signing Out~~


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